King of Kings: the 1961 version (DVD review)... (1 Viewer)

[frank manrique]

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For those interested, this is Ron Epstein's review of this fine film from our archives.
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Bob,

Ron's review is excellent. We seem to have come to the same conclusion about the DVD transfer except in couple of rather inconsequential areas.

Where he clearly bested me is in having the capability of doing pic grabs since those he posted are worth far, far more than mere words could ever describe!...

-THTS

"...hi, my name is Frank...and am an SVS bassaholic..."

 

[frank manrique]

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To the poster in question: You stated that imbibition Tech was a fairly new printing process at the time of King of Kings. I merely said it had been in use for several years, which it had. I know all your other points about Tech and I wasn't addressing those, as they were correct. I love Tech, three-strip, IB printing, all of it, and have read as much as you can read about it - in fact, we've probably read exactly the same books.
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Art (is it permissible to address you in such manner?),

I think that my lack of clarity steered you in a direction where you believed I was in error (which actually was, but in a different way! :b ), however, I hope that we both can now agree about all IB Tech matters and go back to be friends again, so peace!

By the way...I've been awfully remiss by not giving due credit to two individuals to whom I owe a great deal of gratitude for the knowledge they have bestowed upon me, thus I hereby would like to express my deepest thanks of appreciation to Marty Hart, Curator of the American Widescreen Museum (whom I consider to be my foremost Mentor in all motion picture technical and other film related matters), for answering my endless questions and for exhibiting such great degree of patience while doing so, as well as Vern Dias, film projectionist par excellence, without whose wise advice I would not be able to do video transfer "reviews"...

-THTS

"...hi, my name is Frank...and am an SVS bassaholic..."

 

[ArthurMy]

Of course. I do prefer Arthur, but Art is fine, too. Now, here is the most important question: How do you get smilies from over on the left of the reply form and into the reply?

BTW, I took out my King of Kings DVD and it is a wonderful disc - really sharp, really great and accurate colors.

 

[Craig Chase]

Frank... Thank You for the time and effort in doing this review. Suffice it to say you have inspired me to want to purchase "King of Kings" ...

Well Done ! ...

 

[frank manrique]

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Now, here is the most important question: How do you get smilies from over on the left of the reply form and into the reply?
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It took some doing but I finally got the hang of placing smilies onto the text or post, like so: (you have to experiment a little if you're like me when it comes to computers 'cuz am rather 'puter-illiterate! :b
It works fine if you place smiley faces at the end of paragraphs, but is a bit different when one wishes to place them in between words; that's when experimentation begins...

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BTW, I took out my King of Kings DVD and it is a wonderful disc - really sharp, really great and accurate colors.
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Amazing looking, isn't it?

Cheers!...

-THTS

"...hi, my name is Frank...and am an SVS bassaholic..."

 

[ArthurMy]

Well, let's try a little test:

 

[ArthurMy]

Wow :b :star:

 

[frank manrique]

quote:
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Well, let's try a little test:

Wow :b :star:
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Well done, Art! You've got it now...

-THTS

"...hi, my name is Frank...and am an SVS bassaholic..."

 

[frank manrique]

Have been awfully busy ever since I went back to work after my rather lengthy surgery medical leave, thus have little time to spend on the "Net."

What I'd like to ask is this: has anybody knows anything about, or have seen Criterion's version of King of Kings (on DVD)? Any information will be greatly appreciated!...

-THTS

 

[Robert Crawford]

Frank,
It looks great and Criterion did an excellent job with both the extended and short versions of this film. Below, you can read the review posted on the forum.

The King of Kings Review

 

[frank manrique]

quote:

Frank,
It looks great and Criterion did an excellent job with both the extended and short versions of this film. Below, you can read the review posted on the forum.
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Thank you for the information, Robert.

Will add this one to the movie collection.

Merry Christmas to all!...

-THTS

 

[Simon Howson]

Thanks for a great review. You make me want to watch my copy of the disc again, given that it is Chrismas week ;-)

I purchased the Australian region 4 version of the disc which is identical to the US version... Too identical for my liking in that the video transfer is NTSC rather than PAL!

It is wonderful that Warner produced such a good transfer. I wonder how they managed to access such good quality elements to make the video transfer. Does anyone know if the film underwent any level of restoration? What exactly was the element used for the transfer? Was it a new Technirama inter-positive?

I can only hope that various other studios release some of the other Nicholas Ray epics such as The Savage Innocents, and 55 Days at Peking... He trully is one of the great widescreen directors and it is fortunate that he did make quite a few CinemaScope and Technirama films.

 

[frank manrique]

quote:

Thanks for a great review. You make me want to watch my copy of the disc again, given that it is Chrismas week ;-)

I purchased the Australian region 4 version of the disc which is identical to the US version... Too identical for my liking in that the video transfer is NTSC rather than PAL!

It is wonderful that Warner produced such a good transfer. I wonder how they managed to access such good quality elements to make the video transfer. Does anyone know if the film underwent any level of restoration? What exactly was the element used for the transfer? Was it a new Technirama inter-positive?

I can only hope that various other studios release some of the other Nicholas Ray epics such as The Savage Innocents, and 55 Days at Peking... He truly is one of the great widescreen directors and it is fortunate that he did make quite a few CinemaScope and Technirama films.
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Thank you for the kind words, Simon!

With PAL you'd have gained higher vertical resolution, a most welcomed factor to have (though the soundtrack would speed up to an extent...but then you knew that, right ).
Can't account as to why a Region 4 DVD transfer would be NTSC rather than PAL, yet am not too familiar with the protocols movie studios use for such quirky decisions.

I don't believe Warners relied on Technirama film elements to produce the HD master for the DVD video transfer at all (not a new 35mm low contrast IP, let alone 70mm elements); rather, whatever "restoration" that may have taken place appear to have been performed entirely in the digital domain (like they seem to have done to Mike Todd's Around The World in 80 Days, which was shot in the Todd-AO spherical 70mm format, of course) but I could be totally wrong. This question begs an answer! Like to chime in, Mr. R. Harris?

I believe Miramax acquired the rights to 55 Days in Peking, The Fall of the Roman Empire, and El Cid, and announced quite a while back that these films were to undergo "restoration" of some sort in order to produce fresh, suitable HD masters for eventual video transfers. However, nothing has been added ever since and none of those truly magnificent 70mm-photographed film epics are even close to be released anew, to my great chagrin... :frowning:

Merry Christmas and happy New Year, Simon!...

-THTS

 

[frank manrique]

Since I'll be out of town past year's end and have no access to my 'puter...presently I would like to wish every one of you a most happy and prosperous New Year. Cheers!...

-THTS

 

[frank manrique]

Finally had the opportunity of viewing Criterion's version of CBM's "King of Kings" over New Years eve (the 1927 roadshow version), and must say how I wish Cecil BM was still alive...availing use of the latest film making technologies and special effects; what a phenomenal modern day KOK he would have created for the silver screen!...

-THTS

 

[Simon Howson]

Unfortunately Warner have a habit of doing this, I suspect when they can not access a PAL master. The avoid the added expense by simply using the NTSC master. I guess it is better than the worse scenario of somehow converting an NTSC master to PAL? I know this can be done, but I imagine it results in quality degradation of somee sort.

I worked in a DVD store for a couple of years and frequently we would get customers in complaining that the picture for a colour movie was black and white. Explaining to a customer PAL & NTSC is nearly as hard as explaining widescreen.

Warner even did it for Citizen Kane. The Australian release is NTSC, the only thing they changed was the menues and packaging. When they do it the DVD will have a small mark on the top right corner that says "NTSC REGION 4" Such as this example http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/224012

I buy most of my DVDs from the US, and a lot of Warner stuff, because there are so many more good films out in R1 than R4. I have found that a lot of the R1 Warner boxes are much better than the Australian version. For example the R4 Hitchcock box only has 4 films http://www.ezydvd.com.au/item.zml/229532

I'm pretty sure it is PAL.

So Warner are great in R1, but it is pretty sad when they don't cater for the native TV format of a particular country. Sure most _recent_ TV sets now in Australia do NTSC no problems, but if Warner were a car company would they insist on selling us left side drive cars? ;-)

 

[RudolphT]

Frank,

Happy New Year to you too. (Sometimes it's good for the soul to be 'detatched' from the computer )

Now I really need to see the criterion early release.

Best regards,
Tim

 

[GerardoHP]

This is so true. I saw BEN-HUR several times and then I saw an IB Technicolor print at the Cinematheque a couple of years ago, and it was like I had never seen it before. If they can produce the likes of GWTW and MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS on DVD, why can't they do the same with BEN-HUR?

 

[Robert Crawford]

Who says they can't? In three months, it would be four years since Ben-Hur was released on dvd and with the technical advances they've made in those four years, I'm pretty sure that a better looking dvd of Ben-Hur could be produced. When the time is right for Warner, I'm sure they will revisit this film again because it's one of the most prestigious films they have in their entire film library.





Crawdaddy

 

[frank manrique]

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Who says they can't? In three months, it would be four years since Ben-Hur was released on dvd and with the technical advances they've made in those four years, I'm pretty sure that a better looking dvd of Ben-Hur could be produced. When the time is right for Warner, I'm sure they will revisit this film again because it's one of the most prestigious films they have in their entire film library.
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Yes...and if WB does revisit it I truly hope they listen to me and redo Ben-Hur sans that ridiculous pseudo Ultra-Panavision 2:76:1 aspect ratio...something that crops the image's height and causes serious losses of badly needed vertical resolution!

Give us a re-mastered Ben-Hur with higher VERTICAL resolution by slightly reducing the horizontal plane--a ratio of about 2:55:1 will do--'cuz I rather put up with an slight cropping of the lateral image than having vertical cropping and compromised resolution, which is a substantially loss when the image is ratioed to the current DVD's aspect ratio dimensions.
If they want to, WB can do with Ben-Hur something similar to what they done with the King of Kings DVD transfer!

Here's to hoping...

-THTS